What is QAIB?DALBAR's 2015 Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB) is the twenty-first annual edition of a report that examines the returns that investors actually realize and the behaviors that produce those returns.

Since 1994, DALBAR's QAIB has been measuring the effects of investor decisions to buy, sell and switch into and out of mutual funds over both short- and long-term time frames. The results consistently show that the average investor earns less - in many cases, much less - than mutual fund performance reports would suggest.

The goal of QAIB is to continue to improve the performance of independent investors on the one hand and of professional financial advisors on the other hand by incorporating the factors that influence behavior that determines the outcome of investment or savings strategies. QAIB offers guidance on how and where investor behaviors can be improved.

QAIB 2015 examines real investor returns in equity, fixed income and asset allocation funds. The analysis covers from January 1, 1985 to the period ending December 31, 2014, encompassing the crash of 1987, the drop at the turn of the millennium, the crash of 2008, plus the recovery periods of 2009, 2010 and 2012. This year’s report will focus on the worst periods of investor decision making over the last 30 years and the steps that can be taken to proactively correct behavior in stressful circumstances.

The report explains how investors and advisors adapt to changing market conditions and produce investor returns using investor behaviors, the psychological factors that drive them and the knowledge of how investment classes have acted in the past.

What does the Report include?

Mitigating Money-Losing Behavior – A responsive approach to identifying when investors are most vulnerable to money-losing behavior.

Maximum Impact Events – The top 10 periods of time in which the average fund investor experienced the most acute underperformance.

Steps to Help Investors When They are Most Vulnerable – Strategies to employ when maximum impact events are identified.

Planning for Maximum Impact Events – Steps that can be taken now so that one is prepared to respond in stressful market situations.

What QAIB has Taught Us Through the Years – A look back at all that we have learned over the past 30 years about investor behavior.